Tutorial

Lesson 10
Making databases relational
Relational databases let you easily view related data and streamline
data entry. You can enter data once, then view and use that data in
related tables or files.
In this lesson, you will:
1 see how relational databases work
1 define a relationship
1 display data from one related record
1 display a list of related records
The sample file in this lesson uses two tables:
1 a Members table with records for individual Corporate Travelers
Club members
1 a Companies table for companies where these members work.
Each company has many members.
Display a related record in a file
Define a relationship to another table
1. Open the Tutorial folder on your hard drive.
2. Open Sample Copy.fp7.
The file contains the tables, but not the relational structure. You will
build the structure now.
3. Choose File menu > Manage > Database.
4. Click the Relationships tab.
You see the relationships graph. The relationships graph shows all
the tables in the current file.
When you work with tables in the relationships graph, you are using
them to organize your view into your data. Each table occurrence in
the relationships graph represents a separate view into your data.
When you create a relationship between two tables, you make the
data stored in either table accessible to the other table, according to
the match fields and the criteria you establish for the relationship.
5. In the Members table, click the Company field and drag a line to
the Company field in the Companies table.
The Company field is the match field.
6. Release the mouse button. You see the relationship you have created.
The relationship is based on matching data in the Company field in
both tables. Records are related when data in the Company field in
one table matches the data in the Company field in the other table.
7. Click OK.